This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 11-345297, filed Dec. 3, 1999, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
This invention relates to a to-be-detected object detecting device, a to-be-detected object detecting method and a to-be-detected object processing device for detecting that a to-be-detected object is a specified object based on the physical characteristic of the to-be-detected object fed on a feeding path.
Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 1, a detecting device for detecting various physical characteristics of a to-be-detected object fed on a feeding path has a plurality of sensor sections arranged on the feeding path in order to detect a plurality of physical characteristics of the to-be-detected object.
In the detecting device, to-be-detected objects are individually fed on the feeding path. Each of the sensor sections arranged on the feeding path selects one of the physical characteristics of the to-be-detected object which are desired to be detected. Generally, since it is desired to detect a plurality of physical characteristics of the to-be-detected object, various sensor sections for sensing various physical characteristics are arranged in various positions on the feeding path.
The physical characteristics of the to-be-detected object sensed by the sensor sections are supplied as electrical signals to a detection processing section via transmission paths. In the detection processing section, a process for detecting the physical characteristics of the to-be-detected object is effected based on the electrical signals supplied from the sensor sections. When the detection process for all of the physical characteristics is completed, the detection result is synthetically judged and a corresponding output is supplied to a generalizing section.
The generalizing section supplies an instruction corresponding to the detection result from the detection processing section to an object distributor and objects are distributed by the object distributor and stored in different storage boxes corresponding to the processing results.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the construction of the sensor sections and detection processing sections of the conventional detecting device. As shown in FIG. 2, the physical characteristic of the to-be-detected object sensed by a sensor of each sensor section is converted into an electrical signal, amplified by an amplifier and supplied to a corresponding one of the detection processing sections corresponding in position to the respective sensor sections via a transmission path.
Each detection processing section converts the electrical signal supplied from a corresponding one of the sensor sections into digital data by use of an A/D converter, effecting the detection process in a detection processor and gives the detection result to a central processing unit by writing the detection result into a common memory provided between the detection processor and the central processing unit.
The central processing unit analyzes information detected based on the electrical signals acquired from the sensor sections and outputs a signal instructing a preset operation to a detection output section.
Generally, the processing time which can be taken for processing one to-be-detected object and the number (throughput) of to-be-detected objects which can be processed in unit time conflict with each other. Under a condition of a high speed detection process it is required that the processing time of each detection is limited, because it is impossible to carry out complicated calculations in a short time.
Therefore, a case wherein the detection result is determined as being indefinite or it is erroneously determined since the detection result is forcedly determined occurs in some cases.
Further, since the various sensors are arranged in various positions on the feeding path of the to-be-detected object, time for acquiring physical characteristic data of the to-be-detected object from the sensor is different depending on the position in which the sensor is arranged. Therefore, it is difficult to realize a processing method using physical characteristic data of the to-be-detected object acquired from various types of sensors from the standpoint of the processing speed and the cost of the hardware.
In the normal process, it is required that to-be-detected objects for which determination of detection cannot be made or to-be-detected objects which are required to be distributed into a more specific category are discriminated one by one by use of the five senses of an operator or the like or they are caused to pass through a detection processor which has substantially the same function as a normal detecting device including sensors and performs a precise examination process to obtain a final result.
An object of this invention is to provide a to-be-detected object detecting device, a to-be-detected object detecting method and a to-be-detected object processing device capable of performing the detection process of high performance and enhancing the whole detection performance without lowering the number of to-be-processed objects of the to-be-detected objects in the normal detecting process.
According to a first aspect of this invention, there is provided a detecting device comprising first acquiring means for acquiring physical characteristic information obtained from a to-be-detected object; storage means for storing the physical characteristic information acquired by the first acquiring means together with specified data which specifies the to-be-detected object; first determining means for determining that the to-be-detected object corresponding to the physical characteristic information acquired by the first acquiring means is a specified object based on the physical characteristic information; second acquiring means for acquiring corresponding physical characteristic information from the storage means based on the specified data of the to-be-detected object when the first determining means has determined that the to-be-detected object is a specified object; and second determining means for making a more precise determination than the determination by the first determining means with respect to the to-be-detected object based on the physical characteristic information acquired by the second acquiring means.
According to a second aspect of this invention, there is provided a detecting method comprising a first step of acquiring physical characteristic information obtained from a to-be-detected object; a second step of storing the physical characteristic information acquired by the first step together with specified data which specifies the to-be-detected object; a third step of determining that the to-be-detected object corresponding to the physical characteristic information acquired by the first step is a specified object based on the physical characteristic information; a fourth step of acquiring corresponding physical characteristic information from the second step based on the specified data of the to-be-detected object when it is determined in the third step that the to-be-detected object is a specified object; and a fifth step of making a more precise determination than the determination in the third step with respect to the to-be-detected object based on the physical characteristic information acquired by the fourth step.
According to a third aspect of this invention, there is provided a to-be-detected object processing device comprising first acquiring means for acquiring physical characteristic information obtained from a to-be-detected object; storage means for storing the physical characteristic information acquired by the first acquiring means together with specified data which specifies the to-be-detected object; first determining means for determining the to-be-detected object corresponding to the physical characteristic information acquired by the first acquiring means based on the physical characteristic information; storing means for distributing and storing the to-be-detected object corresponding to the determination result by the first determining means into a first storing section based on the determination result and distributing and storing the to-be-detected object for which determination result by the first determining means has not been obtained into a second storing section; second acquiring means for acquiring corresponding physical characteristic information from the storage means based on information indicating the to-be-detected object for which determination result by the first determining means has not been obtained; second determining means for making a more precise determination than the determination by the first determining means with respect to the to-be-detected object based on the physical characteristic information acquired by the second acquiring means; and processing means having the second storing section set therein, for sequentially taking out the to-be-detected objects stored in the second storing section and storing the to-be-detected objects into third storing sections of different categories based on the determination result by the second determining means.
According to a fourth aspect of this invention, there is provided a to-be-detected object processing device comprising first acquiring means for acquiring physical characteristic information obtained from a to-be-detected object; storage means for storing the physical characteristic information acquired by the first acquiring means together with specified data which specifies the to-be-detected object; first determining means for determining the to-be-detected object corresponding to the physical characteristic information acquired by the first acquiring means based on the physical characteristic information; distributing means for distributing the to-be-detected object corresponding to the determination result by the first determining means into a first storing section, and the to-be-detected object for which a determination result has not been obtained into a delaying feeding path based on the determination result; second acquiring means for acquiring corresponding physical characteristic information from the storage means based on information indicating the to-be-detected object for which determination result by the first determining means has not been obtained; second determining means for making a more precise determination than the determination by the first determining means with respect to the to-be-detected object based on the physical characteristic information acquired by the second acquiring means; and processing means for storing the to-be-detected object fed by the delaying feeding path into one of a plurality of second storing sections of different categories based on the determination result by the second determining means.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.